Using house wrap, a big pump, and the knowledge gleaned from years of restoring old houses, semi-retired carpenter Rick Arndt waded into the St. Croix River on Tuesday in an attempt to refloat Sweet Destiny, the 54-foot motor yacht marooned on Beer Can Island near Hudson, Wis.

While he did not succeed Tuesday, Arndt said he was only trying the cheapest possible solution at first, and he has more ideas of how he might yet get the boat off the river.

"Wouldn't it be cool if I could do it?" Arndt said Tuesday, as he piloted his fishing boat across the St. Croix.

His is the first serious effort to remove the boat since former owner Grayson McNew parked the sinking vessel on the island last summer. The two-story white boat quickly became a river landmark, then a headache for local officials who have grown weary of abandoned river boats.

It's inspired a new Hudson ordinance that calls for fines for boat owners who leave their watercraft on the river. The issue has also spilled into both the Minnesota and Wisconsin legislatures where representatives proposed laws that would criminalize boat abandonment. A Minnesota DNR conservation officer who testified before the legislature said the state sees about 40 abandoned boats per year.

While others debate, Arndt, who isn't billing anyone for his time, said he just wants to help.

"I've heard so much anger about this boat," he said. "People are just angry. I've been self-employed for 49 years and so my idea is less about talking about it and more about doing something."

Arndt said he's used his skills to help others before, from a New Richmond family who got a free mobile home renovation to impoverished residents of a region in India that Arndt visited on a mission trip.

Before he went to the river this week, Arndt thought he should call some of the folks involved. He's talked to McNew and city officials. He called up the marina where the boat was once stored to learn about its history. He's also spoken to Bill Warren, the treasure hunter from Alabama who had envisioned restoring the boat and using it to dive on famous shipwrecks.

Ownership of the boat was murky as of Tuesday.

Warren claimed he bought the boat from McNew for a couple hundred dollars last fall. Hudson City Administrator Brentt Michalek has said for several weeks that the city planned to start issuing daily fines to Warren this spring if he didn't move the boat.

But Warren this week called Hudson Police Chief Geoff Willems and dropped his ownership claims. Warren told the Minnesota Star Tribune that he planned to move to the Philippines.

"I am not certain who owns the boat at this point," Michalek said by email on Tuesday. "I have reached out to our Chief of Police and we believe it may fall back to McNew."

The city says McNew owes $21,000 in fines for leaving the boat on the island.

Arndt spent a few hours on Monday and Tuesday morning wrapping the aft end of Sweet Destiny with house wrap, a material used to seal new homes against rain. He had rented a massive "trash pump" that weighs 140 pounds, is the size of a dorm refrigerator and can move 396 gallons of water per minute. Arndt thought he might be able to pump out the boat while the house wrap prevented the river from flooding back in.

If that worked, he would have been able to seal the leak that caused the boat to sink in the first place. A nearby marina said it would help him pull it out of the water.

Arndt said he'd like to restore the boat and see it go back to the river.

"I used to buy the worst of the worst homes and I know what you can get if you put some time and elbow grease into it," he said.

"Am I a dreamer, too? I imagine I am."